


double trouble

by antikytheras



Category: Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Double Battles, Gen, Humor, did anyone else know that dragapult is 3m tall, inappropriate use of pokemon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-15
Updated: 2020-03-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:13:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23153824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antikytheras/pseuds/antikytheras
Summary: Leon tries out a new strategy during their double battle. Raihan is not amused.
Relationships: Dande | Leon/Kibana | Raihan
Comments: 15
Kudos: 138





	double trouble

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ikalla22](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ikalla22/gifts).



> ika and i had a fun conversation about pokémon and canon heights and this happened

Raihan doesn’t think too much into it when he rolls over in bed at one in the morning and sees an incoming text from Leon.

 _‘Let’s have a double battle_.’

The message does not specify a time, date, or even a location, but Raihan already knows what his rival-turned-lover wants from him.

So he sits up in his pyjamas and pulls out a random pair of socks from his drawer. Less than a minute has passed by the time he sets out his front door and taps out a succinct reply. _‘K.’_

It is a Friday night, and neither of them have any particular obligations tomorrow, save for their usual date plans. This is not the first, or even the fiftieth time Leon has sent a request to battle at some bizarre hour of the night.

Perhaps it is a leftover bad habit from their respective teenage years, when neither of them had been able to settle down to sleep, heads consumed with new battle strategies and ideas about how to beat each other. In hindsight, it probably should have been more obvious that they’d end up together, especially since they’d each spent an absurd amount of time obsessively thinking about the other.

Raihan strolls out of his apartment building’s main entrance with both hands shoved into his pyjama pants pockets and his hair falling everywhere in front of his face. Hardly anyone is awake at this hour, and even if someone were to spot him, they probably wouldn’t be able to recognise him in his Rayquaza-themed pyjamas.

He idly makes his way down to Hammerlocke Stadium. In the darkness, the centuries-old walls look like the crumbling ruins of a long-abandoned castle.

Leon is already on the stadium pitch, wearing nothing but a plain white T-shirt and grey sweatpants. He still looks stupidly attractive, of course.

‘Hey,’ he greets with a grin.

Raihan grins back. ‘Hey yourself. How long did you take to get here?’

Leon laughs. ‘Only thirty minutes. I had Charizard with me to lead the way.’

After several unfortunate incidents involving Raihan standing in the stadium for an hour and Leon getting increasingly closer to the general vicinity of Sinnoh, it has become an unspoken agreement that Leon only sends Raihan the invitation to battle _after_ he arrives at the stadium.

‘That’s good to hear.’ Without further ado, Raihan pulls out a Poké Ball. ‘You ready?’

Leon’s answering grin sends a thrill down Raihan’s spine. The ex-champion throws out two Poké Balls. Aegislash and Dragapult emerge in dazzling rays of light.

‘I’m testing out a new strategy,’ is Leon’s sole explanation for their late-night battle today.

Later, in hindsight, Raihan will realise that this is a very dangerous phrase.

But for now, he only thinks about the format of their battle. ‘Is this a two-on-two, or are we doing this with full teams?’

Leon shrugs. ‘Either way is fine. I just want to try something out with these two.’

That should have been enough to send alarm bells ringing in his head, but in his defense, it is late, and he may have left his brain in bed.

‘Alright, two-on-two sounds good then.’

Raihan sends out Flygon and Duraludon.

He doesn’t hold back. ‘Duraludon, use Dragon Claw on Aegislash!’

Duraludon roars and charges forward across the field.

Leon nods at his Pokémon. ‘You know what to do.’

Raihan does not expect Dragapult to drift toward Aegislash. He also does not expect Aegislash to switch into its Blade Forme in spite of the incoming attack.

His jaw drops when Dragapult curls his ghost-green tail around Aegislash’s hilt, and with a grunt, lifts the Royal Sword Pokémon with surprising ease.

‘No,’ he mumbles, stunned, ‘you did not—’

Flygon is staring at the scene with wide panic in his red eyes, looking back and forth between his trainer and the charging Duraludon with a nervous chitter.

‘Duraludon, get away from there!’ Raihan yells.

Having realised the imminent disaster unfolding in front of his very eyes, Duraludon tries his best to swerve away, but the momentum he has built up only serves to slow his turning speed.

With a powerful flick of his tail, Dragapult _hurls_ Aegislash across the field, sword-tip first.

Raihan doesn’t know how to feel about Aegislash’s expression. Leon’s Pokémon looks a little _too_ happy to be getting flung across the stadium like a javelin.

Aegislash’s blade clips against Duraludon’s armor with a loud hiss of steel-on-steel. Flygon darts up into the air, well out of striking range, and Aegislash ends up buried in the dirt where Flygon had been hovering over only moments before.

Before Raihan can yell his indignation, Aegislash pops back out with his happy, ghostly cry and darts back to Dragapult’s side. Once again, Dragapult picks up the Pokémon with his tail, looking altogether too pleased with himself for Raihan’s liking.

Flabbergasted, Raihan can only splutter, ‘You can’t—that’s not—'

Duraludon is looking back at him with tears in his wide eyes.

‘Stop bullying my Pokémon!’ Raihan yells. ‘Look, you’ve made him cry!’

Leon blinks, confused. ‘It’s just like any other double battle, though—’

‘You’re gonna dent his armour! Are you even _allowed_ to use Aegislash like that?’

Duraludon runs out of the battlefield with a miserable noise of distress, waving his arms around, and Raihan quickly bends down to scoop his precious Pokémon up into a hug.

Now that the battle has come to a halt, Leon looks suitably admonished. ‘Well, I mean— I thought it’d be interesting to try since, you know, they’re about the right size and everything—’

Duraludon sobs into Raihan’s neck.

He glares at his lover. ‘You’d better polish him up real good for this,’ he threatens, ignoring the way that Dragapult is testing Aegislash’s heft in the background by swinging him around like a baseball bat.

Leon meekly recalls his Pokémon. They both look very disappointed to be separated from each other.

‘I’m sorry,’ Leon tries to say, ‘I didn’t think—’

‘Yeah, you didn’t _think_ ,’ Raihan hisses.

Leon has the sense to keep his mouth shut and wait for Raihan to calm down.

He takes a deep breath. ‘Look,’ he finally says, ‘that’s an interesting strategy, but if you’re not careful about it, Aegislash is _literally going to kill my partner_.’ The last bit comes out in a barely-controlled stream of pure unbridled rage.

‘I’m sorry,’ Leon says again. ‘Can I say sorry to Duraludon?’

Duraludon’s tears have mostly dried up by now, and he seems more afraid of Raihan’s anger than he is at the prospect of being stabbed in the heart by a sword travelling at Mach 40 speeds.

So Raihan lets it go with a sigh. ‘Fine. But you have to apologise to Flygon too, yeah?’

Leon gravely turns to Duraludon. ‘I’m sorry. Can I polish you to make up for this?’

Duraludon sniffles. Then he nods.

Leon runs a hand along the gash on his side with a wince. ‘That’s… not good, huh?’

Duraludon nods, letting out a mournful, keening sound.

‘Did I scare you?’

Duraludon nods again.

‘I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful next time. And I’ll warn your trainer,’ Leon promises.

Flygon descends, great gusts of wind whipped up by the flapping of his wings. He lands on Leon’s shoulder with a chiding purr.

‘I owe you an apology too,’ Leon says, looking up and reaching to pat Flygon.

The dragon closes his eyes and rests his chin on Leon’s head.

Raihan sighs. His Pokémon are _too_ nice.

When he turns to look at Leon, he finds his repentant boyfriend meeting his gaze. ‘That was irresponsible of me,’ Leon says.

‘It’s fine.’ Raihan's temper is only a short-lived thing, anyway, so he’s just about done being angry. ‘Just… tell me next time you’re planning to do something that weird, okay?’

A sparkle enters Leon’s eyes. ‘So you’re saying I can do it again?’

Raihan gives him a look, and he quickly clears his throat and looks down at the ground, like a guilty child caught stealing from the cookie jar.

Initial shock aside, Raihan has to admit that Leon’s idea has _some_ merit. ‘Yeah, I guess. I overreacted too. My bad.’

The air around Leon seems to fill with sheer joy again as he starts to vibrate in excitement. ‘Great! So I was thinking about it, and if Dragapult could pick up some fencing moves by the next championship tournament—’

Raihan firmly clamps a hand over his boyfriend’s mouth. ‘Hop is going to _kill_ you if you give Victor the same heart attack you just gave me.’

**Author's Note:**

> [dragapult is 3m tall](https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Dragapult_\(Pok%C3%A9mon\)), [aegislash is 1.7m tall](https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Aegislash_\(Pok%C3%A9mon\)), and raihan is canonically taller than duraludon
> 
> pokemon heights are whack yall
> 
> [twt](https://twitter.com/syorobao)


End file.
